{"id":2449446,"date":"2019-10-02T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/basalt-high-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach\/"},"modified":"2019-10-02T22:32:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T04:32:00","slug":"basalt-high-school-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalt-high-school-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt High School names Clint Hunter new boys basketball coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5223097112861\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-313780-800\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy | Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy | Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen High School boys basketball against Basalt on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Aspen High School boys basketball against Basalt on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/BHSbasketball-atd-100319-1-2.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen High School boys basketball against Basalt on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-high-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-high-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Roughly 1,200 miles from Chicago, Jason Santo was able to dig into his Illinois roots to find the next boys basketball coach for Basalt High School. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/jason-santo-named-new-athletic-director-at-basalt-high-school\/\">first-year BHS athletic director<\/a>, who moved to the Roaring Fork Valley this summer from Geneva, Illinois, recently hired Clint Hunter to take over the Longhorn program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunter is a native of Naperville, Illinois, which like Geneva is a Chicago suburb. The towns are only separated by about 20 miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt was a total coincidence. I think it\u2019s great. Clint is a young guy who has got a ton of energy and love for basketball,\u201d Santo said. \u201cIt just became easy for me to say this guy is a natural fit for what I want to do with Basalt and he has the same visions I do. I think it\u2019s that Illinois mentality of this is how we want to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunter, 30, replaces C.P. Martinez, who stepped down earlier this summer after leading the Basalt boys basketball program for two seasons. The hire was the first significant coaching hire for Santo as Basalt\u2019s athletic director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A graduate of Naperville North High School and nearby North Central College, Hunter immediately returned to his high school alma mater where he has coached the past 12 years. A school of nearly 3,000 students, he\u2019s primarily been the boys sophomore coach for one of the better programs in Illinois. Under head coach Jeff Powers, the varsity team went a combined 74-14 from the 2015-16 season through the 2017-18 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe played against his team two seasons ago in a regional championship. Their program was stacked and really good that year,\u201d Santo said, pointing out Naperville North\u2019s postseason win over Geneva in 2018. \u201cThe community is going to love him. I think the kids already are loving him, just being around him. My hope is that when you come see Basalt basketball you see the energy that Clint is really bringing to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunter moved to the Roaring Fork Valley over the summer as well. He followed his wife, who has roots in Colorado Springs, to the area after she took a job at Valley View Hospital. Hunter, who is a special education teacher at BHS, actually held open gym workouts with the Basalt players during the summer before being hired as head coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe came and visited and loved it and decided it was the right fit for us. We took a leap of faith,\u201d Hunter said of moving to Basalt. \u201cIt was nice being able to pop in and hold open gyms over the summer. Every day I was able to be with them is going to help out that much more come season time. It\u2019s a lot easier to coach when you have a relationship to coach off of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunter takes over a program coming off back-to-back losing seasons, including a 3-17 campaign in 2018-19. However, Basalt is only three years removed from its historic 2016-17 season under coach Danny Martinez, when the Longhorns went 21-4 while being led by then-senior Michael Glen, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-grad-michael-glen-shining-for-school-of-mines-basketball\/\">become a standout player for the NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines<\/a> in Golden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunter said he liked what he saw in terms of athleticism when working with the returning players over the summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIn order to capitalize on that, we are going to work to play very quick and with a lot of transition, especially on the offensive end,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cOn the defensive end, we will rely on defensive transition, as well, going the other way. But I think we are going back to the basics to figure out what they know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Official practices get underway Nov. 18, with the first games of the 2019-20 season slated for Dec. 2 across Colorado. Hunter said Eric Vozick will return as an assistant coach this winter, and BHS has also hired Aspen High School graduate Dom Alcorta as an assistant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cHe\u2019s going to have them do the fundamentals. He\u2019s going to help build the program and he really cares about the kids,\u201d Santo said of Hunter. \u201cWhen we look for coaches, what we are looking for \u2026 are people who are going to be great educators of young men and young women and Clint fits that to a T.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-high-names-clint-hunter-new-boys-basketball-coach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.Courtesy Basalt High School has hired Clint Hunter to be its next boys basketball coach.Courtesy Aspen High School boys basketball against Basalt on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 17:05:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}